Reflections from Open Networked Learning - Fall 2018

The past two weeks we explored the topic of designing online and blended courses. Our group revisited the COI framework but also focused heavily on constructive alignment and how this can guide our planning and design. For me I moved into thinking more about the facilitation (perhaps because we had great facilitators this week who I really learned from in terms of online facilitation), but the idea of phases of an online course also relates to planning. Boettcher and Conrad (2016) describe every course as a planned sequence of learning experiences that has four phases. These phases are summarized as follows: 1. Course Beginnings : Focus on presence, community, and clear expectations. In our discussions, our PBL group has focused on setting expectations for learners and communicating them right from the start. The beginning is also the phase where the COI model should be implemented to assure a coherence between teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. 2. Earl...

This week I was one of the co-facilitators for the topic of learning communities. I had an idea in mind of how the week would go (or some big questions I was focused on related to communities of practice). After the webinar and the focus on personal learning networks, I also thought perhaps we would move in that direction, but our discussion focused on collaboration and how we as educators can use scaffolding for online learning design and facilitation (and how that fosters collaboration). While we used the word collaboration, as I reflect back on our work I think of an article that I proposed to the group which references Siemens (2014) and his proposed continuum of e-learning learner-learner interactions. The 4 stages are presented as follows: 1. Communication: General talking, discussion 2. Collaboration: Working together and sharing ideas in a flexible environment 3. Cooperation: Working together but each with his own purpose 4. Community: Working together for a common purpose...

This week's discussion focused on why and how we can contribute to open educational resources, including open online courses. Why share online? People share online when they perceive that it enhances their professional reputation and when they feel a strong commitment to the community (Wasko & Furaj, 2005). When talking about community in this sense, it could be the larger global knowledge community, the community of one's academic discipline, a community of scholars, or smaller communities with defined goals and interests. Scarborough (2003) presented 4 postures of knowledge sharing: 1. Web - means of establishing connections with others 2. Ladder - sharing in pursuit of status and career advancement 3. Torch - sharing by following the example of leaders 4. Fortress - sharing to protect against external threats Reflecting on these 4 categories of sharing, I think of my own work and some examples: 1. A web - I think our ONL181 course is a great example of this typ...

This week our group has decided to explore the following question: How do we overcome the uncertainty of the digital world and encourage participation? . This question came out of our discussions from fear of participating (lack of technological skills, fearful of putting work out there for anyone to see and critique, participate...) . Although we are still in the midst of our discussions and inquiry, it is nice to hear each participants experience as a online learning facilitator and as a participants. In our final presentations, I have encouraged our team to share their own digital productions so we can focus on sharing, exchange and constructive feedback and try to move past potential fears together. As we continue to examine the perspectives of both the learner and the facilitator, I have read about Mishra's Design Framework for Online Learning Environments (2002). This framework helps us think about online learning from traditional learning theory paradigms and how we de...

Today was the first webinar to get connected with the larger group if participants. I have participated in webinars most frequently as a silent participant meaning I never had to speak. More recently I tried to use Adobe Connect to host a webinar and I was fortunate as it was an extremely small group as we had many technical difficulties. Not that it was good that we also had some technical difficulties today, but it gave me some reassurance that I wasn't the only one facing these challenges when trying to connect online! While there are so many benefits to meeting online, there needs to be the proper support in place. I think Alastair did a great job being in the room 15 minutes in advance to help as many of us individually as he could. With Adobe Connect I did my audio check and everything was working, but shortly after when my participants were online, things broke down. A quick hello and reminders of how the functions all work was really useful. This was the first time ...